


Living In The Walls

by Krasimer



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, And she's just a random traveling companion, Based on a Tumblr Post, Between Seasons, Chronic Pain, Disabled Character, Gen, Her name is Abigail Marie, Inspired By Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 23:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10650408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: Abigail Marie is a young woman who, on a good day, is somewhat incapacitated by the chronic pain that wracks her body. On a bad day, she is wheelchair bound and she always has it nearby.Things are not as they seem.(Or: You know that one tumblr post about you being a companion and the Doctor trying to rescue you, resulting in that gif of him leaping at the computer screen? It's about you being stuck in an alternate reality, with that being the last glimpse you got of him.)





	Living In The Walls

Her name was Abigail Marie. 

Her hair was brown and her eyes were green and her skin was too pale from time spent inside. Her body hurt constantly and she slept too long. Chronic pain, her doctors told her. She used to be a dancer, a bright young woman with a promising career until the pain became too much. 

Her dreams were weird.

These days, her friends had abandoned her. Her parents visited once a month, only long enough to say hello and drop off some things to help her around the house.

She was watching television when it happened. 

For a moment, just for a moment, she heard a voice that didn’t belong to the show she was watching. “I swear, I’m going to find a way to rescue you,” the out-of-place voice came across the airwaves for a moment. By the time she had looked up, everything was back to normal. She frowned, typing something more for the paper she was writing. 

In the absence of being a dancer, she had become a writer. 

She wrote about her dreams, the ones that were about flying through space and seeing the most amazing things. She wrote essays on obscure topics, things that needed a bright mind to hunt down every speck of information about. There were a couple of books in the works, things she was devoting herself to now that she could barely walk, and that was on a good day. 

The television’s odd moment was forgotten, assumed to be a mix-up in the signals, and Abigail went about her day.

 

~

 

Except that it happened again. 

Several days later, she was in the kitchen, on her feet for the first time in ages. Taking advantage of it, she was doing what housework she could. Dishes, this time. Something about the scrubbing in circles and the warmth of the water was soothing to her.

Her laptop was on the table behind her, the internet connecting her to a radio station she had tailored herself. Her music only, things she loved and things that would become loved once she heard them. It was on something sweet and soft right now, some musically talented person making her want to dance once more. Her toes curled in the mat at the base of the sink, the foam rising up around them. 

The music broke.

“Abigail, can you hear me?” 

The same voice as before. It was barely a question, more of a demand, and she paused, turning to look towards her computer. Drying her hands off, she stepped over to it, her legs already shaking from the exertion of what she had already accomplished. “Hello?” she called out cautiously. 

“Abigail!”

“…Yes?”

“Abigail, if you can hear this-“

The static that followed made her heart sink and she sighed. The moment was already forgotten, Abigail easing herself into her chair. It was always at the ready, even on the good days. Every good day could become a bad day, her doctor had said once, but every bad day can become a good one.

Her doctor was her favorite.

With a sigh, she rolled over to the sink, reaching up to grab the dishes from the clean side and putting them on the drying rack.

She had done what she could for the day.

 

~

 

Stupid internet videos were disrupted next. 

When the video game Let’s Play was altered by the static and a frantic voice calling her name, she sighed and set her laptop to the side. 

She would try again in a little while.

 

~

 

“ABIGAIL!”

The scream came from her television and her laptop at the same time. The screens flickered but the image of an odd-looking man was visible. His cheeks were thin, his hair was brown, and he looked as thin as a rail. 

He looked as healthy as she wanted to be, however.

“Abigail!” his eyes lit up when he spotted her. “Abigail, you have to listen to me. I don’t know how much time I have, I’ve managed to breech the locks they’ve got on you.”

“What do you-“

“No time. Listen to me. My name is The Doctor. You were traveling on my ship with me and an enemy caught us off guard. They’ve locked you away, in an alternate universe, but I think I can get you back if I act quickly. You’ve probably lived a lifetime or so in there, so you’re going to be confused. Out here, it has only been about two days. The window to where you are closes in another three. I hope I can get you home in time, but I can’t promise anything.”

“What?”

“No time!” he looked scared. “They’ve got you locked in your own head, taken one of your childhood dreams and made it your reality and then taken that from you. I don’t know what they’ve been showing you, what life they’ve let you live, but I know that is what they’ve done. I am so sorry, but I’ve been trying to get you out.”

“I was a dancer,” Abigail said softly. “And then my body broke.”

“You walk with a limp in this reality,” the Doctor frowned. “And you’re almost always in pain, but you’ve never required a wheelchair. They’ve made you think you’re helpless, that you’re entirely broken and that your body is useless, but it’s not. You’re strong, stronger than they know, and I know you can survive through this! You’ve survived so much else, please just hold on a little longer!”

The screen flickered, the Doctor looking panicked, and then it cut out entirely. 

Abigail frowned, looking off into the distance out the window. 

The sky flickered.

Abigail remembered.

 

~

 

She woke up.

**Author's Note:**

> I was bored, I just watched a lot of Doctor Who, and I kind of burnt myself out on writing because of college and essays and stress. Let me live.
> 
> Have Abigail Marie, who might end up showing herself in other fanfics in the future.


End file.
